1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera system and a mobile camera system, and, more particularly to a camera system and a mobile camera system in which plural imaging apparatuses are provided in a mobile body, a reference imaging apparatus is set for the plural imaging apparatuses, reference data of the reference imaging apparatus is transferred to the other imaging apparatuses via a control unit, the imaging apparatuses independently perform image processing on the basis of the reference data, and images are combined via the control unit to improve an image quality of a combined image.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image combining and displaying apparatus 800 of a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus in the past disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3297040 is shown in FIG. 11. In this image combining and displaying apparatus 800, outputs of the cameras CAM1 to CAM8 (801 to 808) are connected to an image combining and displaying device 820 in a vehicle. The image combining and displaying device 820 is connected to a monitor device 816. Photographing areas of the cameras CAM1 to CAM8 (801 to 808) are set to overlap one another.
The image combining and displaying device 820 includes image memories 821 to 828 that store images supplied from the cameras CAM1 to CAM8 (801 to 808). The image memories 821 to 828 are connected to an image extracting and combining unit 813. Outputs of the image extracting and combining unit 813 are connected to correction-signal generating means 814 and image correcting means 815. The correction-signal generating means 814 is connected to the image correcting means 815. The correction-signal generating means 814 corrects a combined image outputted from the image extracting and combining unit 813 according to a control signal supplied from the image extracting and combining unit 813 and outputs the combined image to the monitor device 816.
Images outputted from the cameras CAM1 to CAM8 (801 to 808) are stored in the image memories 821 to 828, respectively, and the images are outputted to the image extracting and combining unit 813. The image extracting and combining unit 813 calculates correction gains of the images supplied from the image memories 821 to 828. The image correcting means 815 corrects a combined image on the basis of a correction gain coefficient.
In this way, in Japanese Patent No. 3297040, rather than performing image correction in the cameras CAM1 to CAM8 (801 to 808), images supplied from the cameras are corrected in the image combining and displaying device 820 equivalent to a camera control unit.
For a driver of a mobile body, for example, an automobile, it is difficult to visually recognize the rear of the automobile when the driver backs the automobile. The driver has a blind spot. Even while the driver drives forward, when a vehicle running beside the automobile comes to a position hidden behind a door mirror, the vehicle disappears from a visual field of the driver.
Therefore, in recent years, a vehicle-mounted camera for monitoring peripheries of own vehicle located in a blind spot of a driver is mounted on the vehicle and a photographed image of the vehicle-mounted camera is displayed on a display screen for car navigation.
Moreover, a technique for recognizing, when plural camera apparatuses are connected, a common portion of images combined and reducing differences in luminances and tints between camera images adjacent to each other is disclosed.